Virginia: To Stimulate or not to Stimulate? That is Recession! Governor Timothy Kaine (D) argues that "there's an awful lot of people who are hurting in Virginia, and the message to them seemed to be: 'We don't care. Fend for yourself.' ” At the moment, Virginia has an unemployment rate of 6.7 percent, almost 300,000 people. A specific demographic that was enlivened during these last 21 months was the 18-to-29-year-old crowd. Obama was able to garner a significant amount of support from college students and young professionals, who have been known in the past for being the silent demographic. Traditionally, Virginia’s House of Delegates has been conservative on the issue of unemployment benefits, with Virginia’s laws providing some of the lowest benefits in the country. According to an article in The Washington Post, this stimulus package would have rewritten these laws to include at least two of the following: “those only available to work part time; workers who left their jobs for compelling family reasons such as domestic violence, a spouse moving to take another job or caring for a sick child; workers with dependent children; and workers who need benefits extended through certain kinds of job retraining.” Those against the bill argued that these changes would undermine the success of Virginia’s employment insurance system. As of now, companies in Virginia have to pay only half of the national average for their employment insurance tax, which goes towards the benefits. These lower rates are supposed to keep Virginia business-friendly and are well protected by the Virginia Assembly. They argue that the future economy could be harmed by the increase in rates that the stimulus proposal would cause. The final decision was, for the most part, based on partisan lines, with the Senate giving its approval and the House rejecting the bill with only two Republicans (the majority) siding with Kaine. In world news, as part of the G-20 Economic Summit, the Obamas visited five countries in eight days. A memorable moment was their stop in England, where they met with the Queen. I’m sure that the Queen was excited to see the Obamas; however, what likely peaked her interest was the iPod that was presented to her. While I can’t say whether he went all out for the 120 G, I do know that it was loaded with video and photographs from the Queen’s travels through the U.S. in 2007. This seems to have come in the wake of the backlash that President Obama received in the UK media after giving Gordon Brown a set of American films that were not formatted for European DVD players. In other, partially related, news, iTunes has decided to raise the price of its more popular songs to $1.29, which seems to have shaken the charts as the pricier songs are left in the dust. I just hope that the Queen was never really a fan of Miley Cyrus anyway. It’s okay, Mr. President, “Nobody’s Perfect”...
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